A Maine court ordered the state on Monday to start expanding Medicaid, a move that was approved by voters last year but blocked by the state’s Republican Governor Paul LePage. Maine has until June 11 to submit a detailed expansion plan.
Why it matters: The ruling shows that popular votes for Medicaid expansion matter — and that Republican governors can’t just choose to ignore them. Meanwhile, the expansion will allow roughly 70,000 people to get health care. Maine is the first state to expand Medicaid through a ballot initiative.
A research team says they have developed a trial HIV vaccine that is able to neutralize dozens of strains of the virus from around the world in animals, according to a new study published in Nature Medicine Monday. The vaccine, the product of a team at the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), targets a peptide in the virus' entry machinery.
Why it matters: Great strides have been made in improving the lives of those infected with the HIV virus — nearly 37 million people around the world — but researchers have been unable to develop an effective vaccine. Also, the rate of transmission remains high.
"One of the last holy grails of HIV research is the development of an HIV vaccine."
The federal government paid more money to fill fewer prescriptions in Medicare Part D between 2011 and 2015, according to a new federal report.
The bottom line: "Increasing prices for these drugs will affect beneficiaries and the government for years to come," Ed Burley, a deputy regional inspector general involved with the report, said on a podcast.
Vulnerable Senate Democrats have found a common villain: the pharmaceutical industry. They're highlighting both drug prices and the opioid epidemic as they try to make their cases to voters.
The big picture: Democrats already think health care is a strong issue for them this year, given the unpopularity of the GOP's repeal and replace effort. Opioids and drug prices both resonate deeply with voters, and some Democratic incumbents do have long track records on one or both issues.
